MrBeast's giant reality competition faces safety complaints from initial contestants

NEW YORK (AP) — YouTube's biggest star MrBeast is facing complaints about the safety of contestants from the preliminary round of his ambitious “Beast Games" game show, which boasts 1,000 competitors hoping for a $5 million grand prize.

Some contestants complained online and to other YouTube influencers that they lacked regular access to food, water and medication during early production at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and that some competitors were injured during the production.

A spokesperson for MrBeast said his team is reviewing the process and soliciting attendees’ feedback ahead of the next phase of production in Toronto.

The stakes for “Beast Games” aren't just high for the contestants, but for MrBeast himself, whose real name Jimmy Donaldson, as well as the recipients of his brand of “stunt philanthropy" that often entails direct gifts of cash or even houses. The complaints about the “Beast Games” production coincide with Donaldson’s acknowledgement this week that he used racial and homophobic slurs years ago in recordings he made as a teenager.

The show, which has already been picked up by Amazon Prime Video to air in 240 countries, is part of Donaldson's cultural expansion beyond YouTube — where his channel has 307 million subscribers, including countless young consumers who already purchase his Feastables line of candy or the burgers that bear his name.

“My goal is to make the greatest show possible and prove YouTubers and creators can succeed on other platforms,” Donaldson said in a March press release from Amazon.

Donaldson’s companies cast 2,000 people to take part in an initial tryout of sorts at Allegiant Stadium in July, with 1,000 of them presumably advancing to the actual show. Amazon Prime Video was not involved and did not respond to a request for comment.

A MrBeast spokesperson said Friday that the promotional video shoot was “unfortunately complicated” by extreme weather, the widespread CrowdStrike outage that wreaked global technological havoc and “other unexpected logistical and communications issues.”

We “have taken steps to ensure that we learn from this experience and we are excited to welcome hundreds of men and women to the world’s largest game show in history,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

MrBeast offered eliminated contestants $1,000 upon leaving the competition and the spokesperson said most of those who remain in contention are ready to keep going.

Some contestants expected challenges similar to those from the dystopian Netflix show “Squid Game,” a fictional series — and eventual reality game show — where deeply indebted people compete for millions in high-stakes children’s games.

The Associated Press reached out to several contestants about “Beast Games,” but most either did not respond or declined to speak on the record because they had signed nondisclosure agreements.

Scott Leopold, a 53-year-old father from Austin, Texas, told the AP he thought he was competing in the actual “Beast Games,” not a precursor to the show. He said he felt deceived about his chances of winning and that the competition in Las Vegas would not stream on Amazon Prime Video.

He said that Donaldson should not be “villainized” but added that “an apology would go a long way.”

“All I can conclude is that he was in over his head,” Leopold said. “There were too many people, and I don’t think he knew how to handle the situation.”

Nancy Libby, a Navy veteran from California who said she was one of the last people eliminated, told AP that she applied after seeing a casting call on Facebook. Her daughters watch MrBeast videos, she said, and she’d already planned to take off work anyway.

On-set conditions met her expectations. Libby said she was instructed by recruiters beforehand to watch previous MrBeast challenges to gain some understanding of the experience. Because of that, she said, she was unsurprised by meals of oatmeal and nights spent sleeping on the floor.

Libby said that “crowd control” was an issue at times and that more staffing could help ensure competitors do not injure their counterparts. But Libby said the MrBeast team appeared to take safety seriously and that she only witnessed rude behavior from outside contractors.

“Sometimes when you run things that are first of their kind, things come up that you can’t foresee,” Libby said. “I think that the template was there for a really good competition.”

MrBeast has also previously had some contentious relationships with its contractors. One of Donaldson’s companies sued and then was countersued by a vendor they worked with on the “MrBeast Burger" that got widely panned.

Fans have also previously complained about not receiving merchandise they ordered from MrBeast or receiving the wrong items or wrong sizes. A vendor working with MrBeast to ship some of those orders acknowledged in an online post last year that they’d let the fan down.

___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.